The Effectiveness of Group Counseling Based on Reality Therapy on Resiliency in Parents of Autistic Children in Isfahan City

Reality therapy is a kind of psychotherapy in which it is tried to help to resolve problems with respect to the concepts of reality, the proper and incorrect responsibility of one's life. In this way, people who need psychosocial help are helped by defining human nature, determining behavioral rules and designing the treatment process. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of group counseling based on reality therapy on resilience of parents of autistic children in Isfahan city in 2017. The research method was semi-experimental with pre-test, post-test and follow-up with control group. The statistical population included all parents with autism children, of which 30 were selected using convenience sampling method and randomly assigned to two experimental groups (15 people) and control (15 people). The research tool included the Conner-Davidson Resilience Scale. The experimental group underwent 8 group counseling sessions based on reality therapy. The control group didn't receive any intervention. The results of the data, using repeated measure analysis, show that group counseling based on reality therapy has a positive effect on parental resilience. The results also indicated that group counseling based on reality therapy had been effective in increasing parental resiliency components (excluding control). In this way, it can be said that group counseling based on reality therapy is effective in increasing resilience of parents with autistic children.
Keywords: Reality Therapy, Resilience, Parents, Autistic Children